Cano's walk-off single dooms Tigers in 11th
SEATTLE -- Robinson Cano smacked a walk-off single in the 11th inning as the Mariners won a slugfest against the Tigers, 7-6, on Tuesday night at Safeco Field to even the three-game series at one game apiece.
Cano's game-winning hit accounted for the only run scored on anything but a homer, by either team. Cano went deep in the fifth, two innings after Austin Jackson, with his first career grand slam, and Franklin Gutierrez went back to back.
"It's the kind of game when you can say as a team that it was tough to win and we can compete with anybody," Cano said. "They came back and tied the game, and we kept battling."
The Tigers hit four home runs for the second straight night, with Esurance MLB All-Star Game Final Vote candidate Yoenis Cespedes going deep in the eighth to knot the score at 6-6. Detroit also got big flies from Nick Castellanos, Alex Avila and Marc Krauss.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Campaign rollout: One night after launching his Final Vote campaign with a 432-foot home run, Cespedes again turned Safeco Field into his personal Home Run Derby. This time, he centered a 98-mph pitch from former Tigers closer Fernando Rodney and sent it deep to straightaway center for a game-tying solo shot in the eighth. More >
Video: DET@SEA: Cespedes ties game with solo home run
Cano crushes one: Cano broke a 5-5 tie when he launched a 95-mph fastball from Tigers reliever Alex Wilson over the center-field wall for his sixth home run of the season and his fourth since June 22. Nelson Cruz followed with a single to left field, but third baseman Kyle Seager grounded into a 4-6-3 double play and Logan Morrison flew out to left two hitters later to strand Cruz. More >
Video: DET@SEA: Cano drills a solo home run to center
Kraussmas in July: Barely six hours after landing in Seattle to help fill the Tigers' first-base void, Krauss made an impact in his first at-bat, sending a drive deep to right field as part of back-to-back home runs with Castellanos in a three-run second inning. Krauss, claimed off waivers from Tampa Bay on Monday, became the first player to homer in his first at-bat with the Tigers since Delmon Young did so on Aug. 30, 2011.
"He made a splash with his first at-bat as a Tiger," manager Brad Ausmus said. More >
Video: DET@SEA: Krauss homers in his Tigers debut
Back-to-back payback: After the Tigers hit back-to-back home runs off Taijuan Walker in the second inning, the Mariners got even in the third. Jackson launched an 0-2 cutter from Tigers starter Kyle Ryan 368 feet to left field for a grand slam, and Gutierrez followed suit just five pitches later, driving a 3-1 sinker 409 feet to right-center for his first home run since Sept. 27, 2013. It was Seattle's first time going back-to-back since May 2 in Houston.
Video: DET@SEA: Gutierrez rips a solo shot to right-center
QUOTABLE
"I didn't know [it was out]. The ball's been flying lately. But, man, sometimes you hit it like that and the guys are out there just camped under it." -- Jackson, on his third-inning grand slam
Video: DET@SEA: Jackson launches a grand slam to left
"This is the first time that the ball's been flying out of the yard like it's been the last couple days. I mean, even if we weren't in Safeco -- any park, there's been a lot of home runs hit the last couple days." -- Avila
SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS
The Tigers have hit four home runs in back-to-back games for the first time since April 5-6, 2006.
WHAT'S NEXT
Tigers: After two nights of balls carrying for home runs and doubles at Safeco Field, Anibal Sanchez (7-7, 4.65 ERA) could have a challenge on his hands when he takes the mound on Wednesday at 12:40 p.m. PT for the series finale. Sanchez has given up 18 home runs this season, and with temperatures expected to climb well into the 80s in Seattle, the ball figures to travel.
Mariners: Veteran lefty J.A. Happ (4-5, 3.93) looks to win just his second start since May 9 as he takes on the Tigers in the series finale. Happ allowed three runs on eight hits in six innings on Friday night in Oakland to improve to 4-5 on the season. He last faced the Tigers in 2014 and allowed three runs in 6 1/3 innings in a win for the Blue Jays.
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